


wherever i go, you bring me home

by paupersQueen



Series: maybe it's time (to let the old ways die) [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Getting Together, Injury Recovery, M/M, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:20:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27096439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paupersQueen/pseuds/paupersQueen
Summary: “You know, that wasn’t really fair of you,” Dick said idly, as if the sentence didn’t have as much weight as it really did. He was slouched comfortably in the most rock-hard chair he had ever had the misfortune to sit in, his feet propped up on the edge of Jason’s bed. “What you did, up on the roof top.”
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd
Series: maybe it's time (to let the old ways die) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1977697
Comments: 2
Kudos: 98





	wherever i go, you bring me home

“You know, I think you broke that boy.”

Dick Grayson, renowned vigilante and leader of multiple superhero teams, practically jumped out of his skin. He swiveled his head around to look at the woman who had managed to sneak up on him, a cheeky Gotham native with a nose piercing and a raised brow.

“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replied defensively, eyeing her distrustfully. 

“Nope, don’t wanna hear it; I’ve seen the way you two look at each other from across this bar. Jay over there is head over heels for you and won’t even say it,” she replied, leaning forward to put her elbows on the bar top. “The way I see it, you’re pretty gone for him too. What gives?”

Ah, Gothamites. They always had this uncomfortable way of getting right to the heart of something, regardless of anyone’s comfort level. In a city like this one, they rarely had the time to wait around. There was always something going on. 

Dick shifted, uncomfortable under her gaze. He looked up at the stage where one very not dead Jason Todd sat on a stool, an acoustic guitar in his hand while he played a series of broken-hearted ballads and love songs. 

“You know Jay?” He asked after a few seconds of watching Jason bear his heart on his sleeve, keenly avoiding the topic. 

She shrugged, seemingly willing to let the previous line of conversation go for the moment. 

“A little. We met when he started comin’ here for Open Mic Night. I make the set, y’see.” The woman tapped a clipboard that had been just a step out of Dick’s eyeline, various names scribbled down next to set times. “He comes almost every week. But you know that, of course.”

He did. Dick had been coming almost every week as well, just to see Jason healthy and whole. It was the kind of rare chance Dick never thought he’d ever get; even if he and Jason never actually talked about— _things—_ then at least he’d have this.

—

The next time Dick Grayson sees him, Jason Todd is bleeding out on a grungy rooftop in Crime Alley, whispered goodbyes on his lips.

\--

“You know, that wasn’t really fair of you,” Dick said idly, as if the sentence didn’t have as much weight as it really did. He was slouched comfortably in the most rock-hard chair he had ever had the misfortune to sit in, his feet propped up on the edge of Jason’s bed. “What you did, up on the roof top.”

Jason sat, propped up in the hospital bed in the same relative position he had for the past week and a half. Though he’d argued as fiercely as he could that he was ‘fine’ and it was ‘not that serious,’ the medical staff had disagreed with Jason’s insistent assertions that he was ready to be checked out. According to the professionals, a partially collapsed lung (among the many other serious problems Jason had come in with, including heavy blood loss and a perforated kidney) was not something that could be solved in a few days. It would be at least two weeks until they considered the idea of him checking out of the hospital. Dick didn't even want to begin to think about when he'd be okay with seeing Jason on patrol again.

The younger man raised a brow, scowling slightly in confusion. “What are you talking about? Bleeding out? It wasn’t exactly my first choice either.”

Dick rolled his eyes, feet sliding off the bed as he sat up to look Jason more directly in the eye. 

“No, Jason. Don’t play dumb, I remember your report cards.”

All A’s. Every time. Even in the subjects he hadn’t excelled in, like math and science, and he’d had a much steeper learning curve than Dick had. He’d never met a person more passionate about learning than Jason Todd. 

“I’m talking about the-- the goodbye,” Dick bit out with a little effort. He maintained eye contact for a few more seconds before looking away, his anger banked by will alone. “It was shitty of you, Jay.”

Dick could feel Jason’s eyes on him, no longer the clear blue from childhood but instead the more green-tinted hazel he’d grown into as an adult. There were speculations why but, well-- Jason had never outright stated that he’d taken a dip in a Lazarus Pit. Their information was based more on practical knowledge and hearsay. 

“...I didn’t-- Fuck. Shit.”

“Eloquent.”

“Fuck off, let me get there. God.” Out of the corner of his eye, Dick could see Jason shifting a bit, obviously uncomfortable on both a physical and emotional level. They’d started cutting back on his pain medications dosage a couple days ago. “I didn’t....I don’t know how to explain it. I honest to god don’t.

“I mean, look at it from my perspective, okay? I died. I really fucking died, Dick. I was buried, six feet under and for some reason...well, I’m here now. And I don’t-- Fuck. Fuck!”

Dick finally looked up but Jason’t wasn’t staring at him anymore, instead focusing somewhere in the middle distance, one hand roughly shoved in his hair, the other clenched in a fist around a piece of his hospital bedding. 

“I don’t-- Okay, I do want to be alive. God, I really want to be alive.” Dick’s blood turned cold. “But I shouldn’t be. I don’t know how to describe this but Dick, I am not supposed to be here. I am, and thank Somebody for that but if I got to a point where...where it was obvious I wasn’t going to make it…”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.”

\--

Freed from the confines of the hospital, Jason had immediately tried to go to ground again only to be foiled by the efforts of Alfred Pennyworth. 

Frankly, against that kind of opposition, he had never stood a chance. 

Now that Dick knew where Jason had been living all this time-- or at least part of the time, based on Jason’s somewhat worrying level of paranoia-- he had been adding that particular apartment block to his regular patrols. Sure, Crime Alley was a bit off his usual route, but quick coordination with Cass had covered up any holes left by his new detour. Cass truly was, without a doubt, the best of them. 

Slipping quietly down the fire escape, Dick sat for a moment cross-legged on the level above Jason’s, hearing the usual customary sounds of guitar through the poor sound insulation of Jason’s window. Though he was still barred from patrol per Alfred, nothing stopped Jason from keeping himself busy in other ways. 

“So. You keepin’ tabs on me, Big Bird?”

Only years of training kept Dick from jumping straight off the fire escape in surprise. Instead, his head swiveled around to stare at Jason, sitting on the edge of the roof with an unlit cigarette in his hand and a decidedly smug expression on his face. 

“What-- _Jason_ \--” Dick sputtered, looking down at the apartment where muffled soft music still played and then back up at the man grinning like the cat that got the canary. “How did you even know I was here?”

“Well, you’re good but this fire escape is about 50 years old now and I just know Mrs. Gonzalez hasn’t been climbing on it.” Dick had seen this particular neighbor. At a generous 80, he was absolutely certain that Mrs. Gonzalez hadn’t been on this fire escape in many, many years. “Plus, I wasn’t totally sure it was you-- this whole little unit that B’s put together has the same stalking problem that he does.”

With a resigned look on his face, Dick climbed up to the escape to sit next to Jason on the roof. 

“Well, you aren’t wrong.” 

Though Dick had no proof of it, he was sure that Bruce had done his own stalking of Jason since he’d checked out from the hospital. It was practically a given with Bruce’s emotional constipation.

“Of course I’m not,” Jason replied before sticking the cigarette in his mouth and lighting up. “Though chances were still on it being you. We both know you like to hear me play.”

Jason’s eyes felt like a fire threatening to sear his skin. Dick looked back, fearless.

“Well, you’re pretty good. Though I can’t imagine this will help your singing voice overly much.” In a careful, telegraphed move, Dick reached over and plucked the cigarette from Jason’s mouth and brought it up to his own, inhaling slowly. It tasted the same way it had any time he got drunk enough as a teenager to try-- acrid and black, but oddly satisfying all the same. He put it out against the rough brickwork next to his leg. Jason watched this all, an unreadable expression on his face, but made no move to stop him.

“I’m going back to the bar again next week. You gonna come?” Jason’s face had the kind of careful nonchalance of someone who wanted something very badly. Dick remembered, quite suddenly, the words of the girl from the bar. Jason was ‘head over heels.’ Dick was the same. 

“Yeah. I’ll always be there.”

Like the sun breaking through the clouds, there it was. The smallest, most beautiful smile on Jason’s face. A more mature version of a true Robin grin. 

Before he thought about it too hard, Dick leaned in and kissed it. 

Jason kissed back. 

\--

Days later, Dick lazed across the alarmingly comfortable couch in Jason’s apartment as the other man gently strummed his guitar from a chair set closeby. Dick felt indulgent in some way, like this was a performance just for him. He sighed a little through his nose, content, and extended his leg to link his ankle around Jason’s, just eager for touch. There. That was perfect. 

The thought that this was something he could have all the time was truly addicting.

“What are you working on, Jay?”

He shrugged, fingers not stopping their movement on the instrument. “Just some new songs for my set. Wanna mix it up a little, I think.”

Dick smiled, aiming for innocence. “Oh yeah? Can I hear them?”

Jason grinned back, not fooled in the slightest. “You want a preview? That might cost you, y’know.”

“I think I’ll be good for it.” Dick’s smile was decidedly less innocent this time. 

Rather than reply, Jason’s grin widened and he started to play. After a few bars, he began to sing along.

_“Sweet creature. Had another talk about where it's going wrong. But we're still young--”_

He looked up from his fingers to make eye contact with Dick. It took Dick’s breath away because there it was-- that Robin smile. 

_“--We don't know where we're going, but we know where we belong.”_

**Author's Note:**

> 'Sweet Creature' is by Harry Styles and Jason isn't quite as much of a cliche this time (for the most part). Thanks for reading!


End file.
